What is everyone using Medium for? I think I will use it as a journal on day 1. The last few years have been a serious roller coaster but I continue to push forward. I relocated to my home state of Washington to take care of my pops. My father and I didn’t have the closest relationship. Here is the story on why I moved back to Washington. My phone rang one day and it was my father letting me know he was going into the hospital to have some test run. His voice was alert and normal (or maybe I was so busy in my own world and not hearing my fathers voice that I couldn’t tell something was terribly wrong)
Anyhoo- I finished my work day, went home and fell asleep. At 3 am the next morning I was jolted out of my sleep from a dream. Let me rephrase this- it was a mother fucking nightmare. I woke up with my heart beating through my chest and sweating heavily. The hospital called and told me my father had passed and wanted to know what I should do with his things. One word terrified, I called the hospital and it was midnight in Seattle so they couldn’t connect me to his room but the staff let me know that he was asleep and doing OK. I hopped online and booked a one way ticket to Seattle.
I went straight to the hospital and found out my dad had checked himself into the Psych ward at the hospital. When the nurse brought me to my dad he was unrecognizable. Not physically, but he had lost about 50 pounds from the last time I had seen him and his mental state wasn’t the best. My dad was carted into the room in a wheel chair and he was hunched over mumbling to himself. A little backstory- After high school graduation I moved to Florida for college. My brother and sister both followed in my foot steps. Sis went to VA for college and my little brother moved to NC to do the same.
My mom and dad divorced when I was 5 and he never remarried. Carlton Sr. had a few girlfriends here and there but nothing substantial. He essentially had been without family for over a decade. My father and his siblings did not keep a close relationship with one another. My father had isolated himself inside his apartment for years and being along had a huge impact on the deterioration of his mental and physical health. So seeing my dad in this condition broke me in two pieces, I never returned to Florida. To be continued… Day 1
Start the car shopping process right here
